Webinar Replay: Market Formation And The Benefits Of Competition In Electricity Markets
ConservAmerica and the Energy Choice Coalition hosted a webinar Wednesday on the consumer benefits of competition in electricity markets. The discussion is based around a recent R Street Institute paper, Electric Paradigms: Competitive Structures Benefit Consumers, and its recommendations for states to pursue market reforms that increase competition at all levels of electricity markets. Panelists included R Street Institute scholar Michael Giberson, Sunnova’s Meghan Nutting, Northwestern University’s Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics Director Lynne Kiesling, and ECC Director and ConservAmerica’s Robert Dillon.
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Webinar Replay: Decarbonizing the Freight Transportation Sector
On Thursday, November 30, ConservAmerica hosted a webinar on Decarbonizing the Freight Transportation Sector. As the world focuses on more sustainable practices, the role of the freight sector is critical. Projections show that between 2020 and 2050, U.S. freight tonnage will grow by 50 percent. The International Energy Agency estimates that oil demand from trucking alone will grow 25% by 2040. So even as manufacturers expand production of electric passenger and freight vehicles, the near-term growth in freight movements means increased environmental and climate impacts.
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Webinar Replay: Strategies for Effective Wildfire Management
On Tuesday, October 31, ConservAmerica and the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) held a webinar on Strategies for Effective Wildfire Management. The expert panel was comprised of Hannah Downey, Policy Director, PERC; Patrick Brown, Co-Director for Climate and Energy, Breakthrough Institute; Todd Myers, Director of Center for the Environment, Washington Policy Center; and Chris Villarreal, Associate Fellow, Energy & Environment, R Street. The replay also includes messages from Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) and Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-CO).
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Webinar Replay: Rethinking How We Recycle
On Thursday, August 17, ConservAmerica hosted a webinar on recycling. Titled Rethinking How We Recycle: Bottle Bills and Beyond, the webinar featured expert panelists Philip Rossetti, Resident Senior Fellow at R Street and Scott Green, Vice President of Sustainability at the Can Manufacturers Institute.
We will also heard from Hannah Flygare, who recently authored a white paper about renewable energy and battery waste management in the U.S. The webinar was moderated by ConservAmerica President Jeff Kupfer.
Recycling has always seemed like the easy, intuitive way for each of us to do our part, but the system may not be as easy, or as straightforward, as it seems.
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WEBINAR REPLAY: 2023 FARM BILL
On Wednesday, May 17, ConservAmerica hosted a webinar on the 2023 Farm Bill. Titled Improving Conservation Outcomes on the Nation’s Working Lands: Reauthorizing the Farm Bill’s Conservation Title, Reauthorizing the Farm Bill’s Conservation Title, the webinar featured policy experts Josh Maxwell, Dave White, and Alex Echols, and was moderated by ConservAmerica General Counsel Brent Fewell.
The Farm Bill plays a crucial role in advancing conservation efforts in the United States by providing the necessary funding, incentives, and regulatory framework to preserve and protect agricultural lands, water resources, and wildlife habitats.
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WEBINAR: The Energy Transition & DOE’s Loan Program
On March 15, ConservAmerica hosted a discussion with LPO Director Jigar Shah. Jigar provided an update on LPO’s priorities and activities, including its operational improvements, and explained how the LPO fits into DOE’s overall efforts to accelerate and commercialize breakthrough technologies. We also heard from James Calaway, the executive chairman of Ioneer, the company developing the Rhyolite Ridge lithium mining and production project in Nevada.
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Webinar: Removing Barriers to Cleaning up Abandoned Mines
ConservAmerica recently hosted an online discussion on bipartisan efforts in Congress to address legal disincentives to private sector efforts to address the chronic problem of pollution from abandoned hardrock mines.
The Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act of 2022 would limit liability provisions under the Clean Water Act that have hampered cleanup efforts by conservation and other Good Samaritan organizations.
Sens. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico), co-sponsors of the bill, joined ConservAmerica’s Brent Fewell during the webinar to discuss the importance of addressing the unlimited liability issue that has kept most Good Samaritan cleanup efforts from getting off the ground.
Although there is no comprehensive database on the number of abandoned hardrock mines there are in the United States, estimates range from 140,000 to 500,000 legacy mining sites on public and private lands. Many of these abandoned mines pose safety and environmental hazards.
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Webinar: Modernizing the Federal Permitting Process
The federal permitting process can be burdensome and costly, with major infrastructure projects often taking a decade or more to permit. As Congress looks to invest billions of taxpayer dollars in improving the nation’s infrastructure, it must first overcome the inefficiencies and uncertainties within the permitting process.
ConservAmerica’s Todd Johnston hosted a discussion on March 23rd on improving the federal permitting process with a panel of experts that included former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Neil Chatterjee, Tom Vinson of American Clean Power, Charlie Riedl of NGSA and the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, and Alex Herrgott of the Permitting Institute. Check out the webinar by clicking on the image above or this link.
The United States needs increased infrastructure investment to strengthen the economy and competitiveness, create jobs, and reduce the costs of goods and services. With infrastructure at the forefront of President Biden’s domestic agenda, reforms are needed to ensure projects are built quickly and efficiently.
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Webinar: How the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office Hopes to Transform the Energy Sector
After a decade in which it closed on loans for only one new project, the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) is now set to become a centerpiece of the Biden Administration’s plans to transform the energy sector. With over $40 billion in loan authority and a broad mandate to provide guarantees and loans in multiple sectors, the LPO is actively seeking new projects – and issued its first conditional guarantee in December 2021. At the same time, there remains skepticism from some policymakers about the need for this government program, as well as from businesses about the costs and timetable for securing a commitment.
Please join ConservAmerica on March 3, 2022, at 11 AM ET for a discussion with LPO Director Jigar Shah and Monolith CEO Rob Hanson, the Nebraska company that received the December conditional loan commitment for its clean hydrogen and industrial decarbonization project.
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